The 1/6 hearings are less like the common analogies of 9/11 Commission or Trump's impeachments. Instead, look to the Vietnam Hearings held by Senate Foreign Relations Chair J. William Fulbright in 1966. 1/
A reporter had written to Fulbright in early 1966 to say "the war is not going well. If there is a God, and he is very kind to us, and given a million men, and five years, and a miracle in making the South Vietnamese people like us, we stand an outside chance—of a stalemate." 2/
The hearings were not conclusive; the war lasted years after. But they began Fulbright's attempts to forestall a buildup and "educate" the American public about the dangers at hand. Fulbright -- who pulled his dark glasses off at key moments -- was also from central casting. 3/
It was an all star lineup of witnesses. Retired generals. Scholars. Mostly televised. Pres. Johnson's ratings for handling the war dropped from 63 to 49% over the four weeks. Fulbright sought to educate "middle" America of what was happening through the hearing process. 4/
It was the process that mattered, an accounting in real time of current events to influence the road ahead. Fulbright, a Democrat, was able to reach Republicans. Nothing conclusive came from the hearings but they "parted the curtains" for the public. 5/
pri.org/stories/2017-0…
The radicalization and anti-democratic forces that Trump unleashed for years, culminating in 1/6, are on display now. Leaders of the GOP are unlikely to be swayed. But they won't be able to dismiss it. As Fulbright understood then, hearings are for citizens, not leadership. 6/
When Fulbright was asked about 1966, he simply stated that their purpose was to show "we are not living up to our capacity and promise as a civilized power for the world."
Amen. 7/7

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More from @juliettekayyem

27 Jul
I too am at wits end, but the takeaway from the CDC today isn't about masking. It is the science. Delta is infecting a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, allowing them then to transmit more easily than the original or alpha strains. We are spreaders.
I just advise based on the science. Not a doctor. But this line in guidance stands out as driving change: "However, preliminary evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who do become infected with the Delta variant can be infectious and can spread the virus to others."
This is much stronger than what where it links to, the May "no mask" guidance, pre-Delta. It means in areas where Delta reigns and goes unchecked, the vaccinated are actually transmitting more easily than when the vaccines first were tested. An endless loop.
Read 4 tweets
12 Jul
Why do Cuba and Haiti matter to US? Yes, freedom and rule of law are important. But there is also a safety reason: both countries are the starting point for the most difficult and destabilizing mass migrations to US in the 1980s and 90s. These are dangerous for those who flee. 1/
There is a misconception that mass migrations begin because of climate or other disasters. It isn't true; there are climate refugees, but unexpected mass maritime migrations are almost always caused by political unrest. 2/
Those of us of a certain age will remember "boat people." You can be pretty confident that our US intelligence and Coast Guard are monitoring maritime activity, things like are trees suddenly disappearing and whether there are sustainable water supplies. 3/
Read 4 tweets
9 Jul
We spent 2020 learning about COVID, and we are still learning. We learned that a binary nature of response -- let it rip or shut it all down -- wasn't accurate or sustainable. #TokyoOlympics should have made decision to prohibit spectators earlier. Now the Games go on. Good. 1/
So much wrong with the Olympics: money, greed, stupid rules about marijuana use. Separate those all out. The question is really can the risk be reduced enough -- with all the health rules in place, including no spectators now -- to hold a safer, responsible Olympics. 2/
The answer is yes, but nothing is perfect. Many of us who help with sports security have been pushing for no spectators for awhile. It's a simple calculation: the goal is for athletes to compete and spectators are nice but not essential. Everything to its core functionality. 3/
Read 5 tweets
6 Jul
On this 6 month anniversary of 1/6/2021 insurrection, it is important we take an account of where we are. Lots of bad news and worrying for our democracy. But, through the dismay, I'll do the good news part lest the hard work be viewed as totally futile. Thread. 1/
A week after 1/6, I wrote this @TheAtlantic about how viewing Trump as the leader of a terror organization was now the correct framework. It was viewed by many in my field as paranoid, too extreme, the wrong framing. We now know much more about 1/6. 2/
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
I had long viewed Trump has inciting terror, and used words like "stochastic terrorism" to describe his brand of inciting, without owning, violence. It was too benign. Violence is his north star, the GOP knows it. The Big Lie isn't some political rally; it is a call to arms. 3/
Read 11 tweets
26 Jun
Thread on #InsurrectionAct. After Hurricane Katrina, when civil society had broken down and basic food and water needs not addressed, Pres. Bush was presented with the option to invoke the #Insurrection Act to deploy active military. The merits were strong. Still, he declined 1/
It will go down as one of the most "what if" questions of that era. Deployments like that are complicated and it is naive to think the military would have solved everything.
But perhaps they could have solved more. And Bush liked military efforts, after all. 2/
In his recollections, and others, it was the idea of deploying active military, not trained for such efforts, opposed by the Governor (a Democrat then), and the precedent it would set for the nation that got him to no. 3/
Read 6 tweets
16 Jun
How to measure success? On ransomware, the goal is delay and disruption; stopping Putin isn't about some legal action. So, some wins #GenevaSummit for US have already happened at G7 and NATO with greater focus and cooperation against Russia. Also 1/
Attribution isn't nothing. Calling out Putin's acceptance of criminal enterprises that target US networks is a positive step SINCE the opposite was occurring before (remember Trump focused on China and Iran). 2/
Those criminal enterprises will be less confident of continuing their mayhem against US civilians if they think either Putin might go after one or more of them as a public gesture to curb continuing international pressure or DOJ continues to disrupt their access to currency. 3/
Read 6 tweets

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